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In the Canadian context, there are numerous, and not mutually agreeable, notions regarding hyphenation and capitalization of the position title. Various acts in the Canadian constitution and numerous provincial websites typically indicate Lieutenant Governor of [Province] (upper case and no hyphen), likely due to the primacy of those positions in their respective jurisdictions. However, The Canadian Style indicates Lieutenant-Governor (upper case with hyphen),[7] though lieutenant-governors (lower case and hyphenated) when pluralized.[8] The Guide to Canadian English Usage equivocates somewhat, indicating upper case only when used in and associated with a specific provincial lieutenant governor or name (e.g., Lieutenant-Governor Lincoln Alexander), not generally, and varied use.[9] In French, the term is always hyphenated. Also, as governor is the main noun in the title, it is the word that is pluralized; thus, it is lieutenant governors, rather than lieutenants governor.

Unlike the federal viceroy, the Canadian lieutenant governors have been since 1867, if not Canadian-born, at least long-time residents of Canada and not of the Peerage, though a number, up until the Nickle Resolution in 1919, were knighted. Although required by the tenets of constitutional monarchy to be nonpartisan while in office, lieutenant governors have frequently been former politicians and some have returned to politics following their viceregal service. Canadian lieutenant governorships have also been used to promote women and minorities into a prominent position:[10] The first female viceroy in Canada was Pauline Mills McGibbon, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1974 to 1980, and many have since served in both that province and others. There have been two Black (Lincoln Alexander and Mayann E. Francis) and several Aboriginal lieutenant governors. Norman Kwong, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from 2005 to 2010, is Chinese-Canadian and David Lam, the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia from 1988 to 1995, was Hong Kong-Canadian. Former Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Lise Thibault used a wheelchair, while David Onley, the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, had polio as a child and uses crutches or a scooter.

Besides the administration of the oaths of office, there is no set formula for the swearing-in of a lieutenant governor-designate. Though there may therefore be variations to the following, the appointee will generally travel to the legislative assembly building in the provincial capital, where a guard of honour awaits to give a general salute. From there, the party is led by the speaker of the legislative assembly to the legislative chamber, wherein all justices of the province's superior court, members of the legislative assembly, and other guests are assembled. The governor general's commission for the lieutenant governor-designate is then read aloud, and the required oaths are administered to the appointee by either the governor general or a delegate thereof; the three oaths are: the Oath of Allegiance, the Oath of Office as lieutenant governor, and the oath as keeper of the province's great seal.[15] With the affixing of their signature to these three solemn promises, the individual is officially the lieutenant governor, and at that moment the Viceregal Salute is played and a 15-gun salute is conducted outside.[16] The lieutenant governor then receives the insignia of the province's order or orders. Since the appointment in 1956 of John J. Bowlen as Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, newly installed lieutenant governors will, at some point in the first year of their mandate, be invited to a personal audience with the monarch.[17]

Though incumbents are constitutionally mandated to serve for at least five years, unless the federal parliament agrees to remove the individual from office,[18] the lieutenant governors still technically act at the governor general's pleasure,[19] meaning the prime minister may recommend to the governor general that the viceroy remain in the Crown's service for a longer period of time, sometimes upwards of more than ten years.[n 1] A lieutenant governor may also resign[n 2] and some have died in office.[n 3] In such a circumstance, the governor general can appoint an administrator to exercise the functions of the lieutenant governor until a suitable replacement is found;[20] in some provinces, the associated chief justice has a standing appointment as the provincial administrator.[21][22][23]

As the Canadian monarch is shared equally amongst the ten provinces of Canada, as well as the federal realm, and the sovereign lives predominantly outside Canada's borders, a lieutenant governors' primary task is to perform the sovereign's constitutional duties on his or her behalf, acting within the principles of parliamentary democracy and responsible government as a guarantor of continuous and stable governance, and as a nonpartisan safeguard against the abuse of power.[24][25] The office is the core of authority in a province.[26]

For the most part, however, the powers of the Crown are exercised on a day-to-day basis by elected and appointed individuals, leaving the lieutenant governors to perform the various ceremonial duties the sovereign otherwise carries out when in the country; at such a moment, a lieutenant governor will decrease his or her public appearances, though the presence of the monarch does not undermine any lieutenant governor's ability to perform governmental roles.[27]

Though the monarch retains all executive, legislative, and judicial power in and over Canada,[28][29] the lieutenant governors are permitted to exercise most of this, including the Royal Prerogative, in the sovereign's name, as laid out in various acts in the constitution, though most revolve around the original clauses in section V of the Constitution Act, 1867.[30] While they continue to be appointed by the governor general, the lieutenant governors are considered to be direct representatives of the sovereign. In a province, it is thus the lieutenant governor who is required to appoint persons to the executive council (or cabinet) and convention dictates that the lieutenant governor must further draw from them an individual to act as premier[31]—in almost all cases the member of the legislative assembly who commands the confidence of the legislature. This group of ministers of the Crown is theoretically tasked with tendering to the viceroy guidance on the exercise of the Royal Prerogative, an arrangement called the Queen-in-Council or,[29] more specifically, the Governor-in-Council, in which capacity the lieutenant governor will issue royal proclamations and sign orders in council. The Governor-in-Council of both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are also specifically tasked to appoint in the Queen's name the judges of the courts of probate.[32] The advice given by the cabinet is, in order to ensure the stability of government, typically binding; the viceroy, however, may in exceptional circumstances invoke the reserve powers, which remain the Crown's final check against a ministry's abuse of power.[n 4][33][34][35][36][37][38]

The lieutenant governor alone is also constitutionally mandated to summon the legislature.[40] Beyond that, the viceroy carries out the other conventional parliamentary duties in the sovereign's stead, including reading the Speech From the Throne and proroguing and dissolving parliament. The lieutenant governor also grants Royal Assent in the Queen's name; legally, he or she has three options: grant Royal Assent (making the bill law), withhold Royal Assent (vetoing the bill), or reserve the bill for the signification of the governor general's pleasure.[41] If the governor general withholds the Queen's assent, the sovereign may within two years disallow the bill, thereby annulling the law in question.

R. MacGregor Dawson opined that, following Confederation, the lieutenant governors diverged from the governor general in that they continued to demonstrate a power independent of the Cabinet and parliament; lieutenant governors had variously dismissed governments, refused the advice of ministers, and insisted on the creation of royal commissions. Altogether, lieutenant governors had also withheld Royal Assent to bills 28 times and reserved bills for the consideration of the governor general 71 times. The last example of the former was, however, in 1945 and the latter in 1961.[n 5][39][44] Relations between lieutenant governor and Cabinet have also at times been strained by ministers' unwillingness to openly acknowledge the authority of a federal appointee, often recommended by a federal prime minister who adhered to different political beliefs.[39]

With most constitutional functions lent to cabinet, a lieutenant governor acts in a primarily ceremonial fashion, carrying out some of the ritual duties normally associated with heads of state and thus symbolizing the sovereignty of the provinces within confederation.[45] The provincial viceroys have been said to be, outside of Quebec, "a focus of community ideals and a reinforcement of provincial identity."[46]

He or she will host members of Canada's royal family, as well as foreign royalty and heads of state, and is also tasked with fostering national unity and pride. One way in which this is carried out is travelling the province and meeting with residents from all regions and ethnic groups, some of whom a lieutenant governor will induct into the province's orders and present to others medals and decorations. This travel takes place mostly within a lieutenant governor's province, the viceroys rarely performing state duties anywhere else in Canada, and never internationally, unless it is on behalf of the monarch in a federal capacity;[n 6] it has been argued that the provincial representatives of the Queen should start to undertake trips to represent their province abroad.[12] In the exercise of these duties, the lieutenant governors may sometimes receive advice from the Department of Canadian Heritage Ceremonial and Canadian Symbols Promotion Program.[48] During a provincial election, a lieutenant governor will curtail these public duties, so as not to appear as though they are involving themselves in political affairs.

The viceroys themselves also offer awards, such as the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Outstanding Service to Rural Saskatchewan, the Lieutenant Governor's Nova Scotia Talent Trust Award, and the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Excellence in Architecture, awarded in New Brunswick, and the Heritage Canada Foundation also presents the Lieutenant Governor's Award,[49] presented to an individual or group who has achieved an outstanding result in heritage conservation in the province in which the Heritage Canada Foundation's annual conference is held. Further, the lieutenant governors (as well as the territorial commissioners) present the Vice-Regal and Commissioners' Commendation to recognise service to their respective offices.[50]

As the personal representative of the monarch, a lieutenant governor follows only the sovereign in the province's order of precedence, preceding even other members of the Royal Family. Though the federal viceroy is considered Primus inter pares amongst his or her provincial counterparts, the governor general also takes a lower rank to the lieutenant governors in the provincial spheres; at federal functions, however, the governor general, as the Queen's representative in the country, precedes the lieutenant governors.[51] An incumbent lieutenant governor is also entitled to the use the styleHis or Her Honour,[52][53] and is granted the additional honorific of The Honourable for their time in office and for life afterwards.[52][53]

Per the orders' constitutions, the lieutenant governors, except for that of Quebec, serve as the chancellor of their province's order. They also upon installation automatically become a Knight or Dame of Justice and a Vice-Prior in Canada of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem.[54] All of these honours are retained following an incumbent's departure from office, with the individual remaining in the highest category of the order, and they may also be further distinguished with induction into other orders or the receipt of other awards.

The Viceregal Salute—composed of the first six bars of the Royal Anthem ("God Save the Queen") followed by the first and last four bars of the national anthem ("O Canada")—is the salute used to greet a lieutenant governor upon arrival at, and mark his or her departure from most official events.[55] To mark a viceroy's presence at any building, ship, airplane, or car in Canada, the relevant lieutenant governor's flag is employed. Excepting those of Quebec and Nova Scotia, the present form of most provincial viceroyal flags was adopted in 1980 and consists of a blue field bearing the shield of the province's coat of arms surrounded by ten gold maple leaves[51]—each symbolizing one province—surmounted by a St. Edward's Crown. In a provincial jurisdiction, the lieutenant governor's flag takes precedence over all other flags, save the Queen's personal Canadian standard,[56] and is also, along with all flags on Canadian Forces property, flown at half-mast upon the death of an incumbent or former lieutenant governor.[57]

Beginning immediately after confederation, the Dominion government and the Colonial Office in London considered the lieutenant governors as representatives of, and subordinate to, the governor general in Ottawa, reflecting the view of John A. Macdonald and the Earl of Derby, who set up the Constitution Act, 1867, so as to have the lieutenant governors appointed by the governor general, and who expected that Royal Assent would be given in the name of the governor general, rather than the Queen.[66] A ruling by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1882, however, altered this view,[3] establishing that the lieutenant governors represented the Queen in the provinces as much as the governor general did in the federal jurisdiction.[4][6][67]